Mduduzi
At first I thought your letter was just letting off steam in frustration from the behaviour of unruly PAC followers at Frank Ngidi's funeral. I would have therefore ignored responding to it because there is so much PAC-bashing from within that it is no longer funny. But you said emphasise the point that we must rebuild the PAC - and I'm four-square in support of your appeal to all Africanists. We are all agreed: since the unbanning in 1990 the PAC has become a case study on how not to do it in running a political party in South Africa. There has been many attempts to rebuild the PAC but each time and at each instance we do not get all the ingredients right, and the Party summarily goes back into decline. What really keeps us going is that there is passionate commitment to the vision of the founders of the PAC, the spirited will to fight (that we inherited from the philosophy of Pan Africanism) and that no one else can plug the gap of the political vacuum left out from the weakness and absence of the PAC on the national agenda. I believe the open discussions on every platform will dynamise the PAC and bring to life the stuff that kept Africanists in the mainstream of politics. It is a good starting point but it must then be transmitted into the structures of the PAC. It was wrong for the PAC leadership to isolate APLA activities as separate and autonomous from the politics of the organisation. We live to rue the promotion of this illogical stance after February 2, 1990. It was also myopic to fail to understand the importance of the unity of all strands and persuasions within the PAC, and to fail to give free rein to the left, the centre and the right political positions within the framework of the Party discipline - in order to confront our opponents and rivals with one powerful voice. You could rightfully say the leadership of the PAC was lazy, indecisive and immature. Each time Party leaders and spokespersons were on public platforms it was as if they wanted to runaway. It was irresponsible the way we gave scant regard to the negotiations for a new dispensation, and that we never applied strategies and tactics to maximise those conditions to our benefit. We refused to work as a collective. Even then, the PAC is the only organisation that was given the last kick of a dying horse when the De Klerk regime rounded up, in one fell swoop, all PAC militants countrywide (including the 'revolutionary watchdogs') on 25 May 1993 and placed them in detention under section 29 of the Internal Security Act. They broke down the branch structures, targeted individuals with latent talent, and worked at identifying and recruiting saboteurs to do their dirty work inside the PAC. They sowed confusion and mayhem, and from there we went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Compare the Democratic Party - who had six members of Parliament in 1994 - and the PAC since then. Zach De Beer voluntarily resigned and allowed new leaders to drive the renewal and dominance of conservative liberalism in South Africa. They were going to become the political buffer to protect capitalism. On merit, the 'chihuahua' party moved remarkably from then onwards, through concentrated effort and discipline, to swallow up the NP and others and to become the present day Democratic Alliance. Yes, they had a captive voting audience of +3 million voters traditionally geared to protect their interests and white privileges. They also had experience in formal opposition politics and the support of capital from big business in and outside SA. We on the other hand had our five national assembly representatives not on talking terms with one another. The then PAC president was renown for sleeping in parliament during hot debates. There were always fights and jostling for positions at PAC congresses, and we clearly displayed a death wish in our conduct in the eyes of the electorate, the media, our potential followers, and all other relevant stakeholders. We blew hot and cold - we always promised to come back but we never really did. At least it is fair to say we never really showed determination and discipline to recover lost ground. Have we done a root cause analysis of our real difficulties and challenges before we can correct them and go forward in earnest towards rebuilding the PAC? Our core mission is revolutionary politics. We have assigned to ourselves the role of true vanguards of the aspirations of the African people. To paraphrase -without the Pan Africanists Congress of Azania, the people have nothing. Our values are high moral standards and ethics, service to the people, and we believe transformation and change should first and best affect the rural poor, the urban underclass, and that there should be retribution for land stolen by marauding colonial settlers. We stand for social justice, peace and development. We oppose human inequality in all its forms. We seek a fair and just position for our African Nation in the global scheme of things. I believe this is what brings us together. Our major weakness is the tendency to keep quite and moan on the sides when wrong things happen in the PAC. We mistaken this reactionary tendency for discipline. In my book this is docility and it is an anathema for anyone who regards him/herself as a revolutionary Pan Africanist. Right now what dominates the Party is "Bourgeois Ambition". Every Pule, Tladi, Ndala think that they are the best to can lead the African people (through the vehicle of the PAC). This has allowed those who previously denounced what the PAC stand for to come back through the back door and assume positions of influence and responsibility. We must not expect them to do a good job when they do not even believe in the products they are supposed to promote. In reality though, all they want is to feather their nests and to amass income and wealth through political organisations - and they find the PAC easier to manipulate. I could name names but look closely at all of our so-called leaders and you will see what I'm talking about. We must separate the chuff from the wheat and the genuine article. So, for me there are no schisms and divisions in the PAC. What has happened here is that the PAC has been hijacked and stolen in front of our eyes and turned into an animal we do not recognise. The electorate and all other stakeholders seem to have underscored this fact in all other public and general elections. What you are talking about is a scarecrow and not the PAC. To build the PAC we must stop being like those characters in "The Wizard of Oz" - the lion without courage, the tin-man without a soul, etc. We must be serious and all of us without exception must put their shoulder to the wheel and work to change and bring about a good quality of life to the African people. We must demonstrate that potential by first transforming and repositioning the PAC. Jaki Seroke Subject: [PAYCO] Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:38:27 +0200 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] To: [email protected] To: all PASMA members To: all Apla veterans To all PAC members Dear: Cunningham ( this is not exclusively directed to you, I have addressed it to you hoping you will have some response on the matters I put forth in this email) “One settler one bullet” Dear Comrades: my name is Mduduzi Sibeko; my political leaning is Pan Africanism which is espoused by the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania. I espoused this ideology at the very early age of my childhood. Amongst other things that excited me in those days, other than a reality, was the chanting of ‘one settler one bullet’. This slogan became a somewhat trademark of the PAC, I recall AZAPO attempted to block musician Paul Simon from coming to South Africa for his musical tours, they coined ‘one musician one bullet’ and people believed it was PAC. The usage thereof degenerated to an egregious litany, consider for instance on one occasion those that self-styled themselves as revolutionary watchdogs chanted ‘one Makwethu one bullet’ and they passed by his residence( Clerence Makwethu) In Daveyton. They even attempted to get in to the yard, the bodyguard short one of them in her legs. The following week the Mail and Guardian carried the story under the caption, “The hunter has because the hunted” plausibly adverting to Makwethu. From the article, there was Jackie Seroke’s (who was a secretary for political affairs in those days) comments. His argument was that the PAC was obliged to give a political education to its members. PAC members have hitherto believed in a parochial pursuit of struggle, consequently, it follows that our political one-sidedness’ is inimical for the organization. Who said one settler was a principled slogan of the PAC? I do know some of you may be not interested in this somehow tedious recounting of the past. But I tell you, I was extremely disturbed the past weekend that some comrades continue to chant one settler one bullet. This was done at the funeral of comrade Ngidi, blemishing the state funeral honor that he was bestowed with. I urge and implore comrades in this communication to stop dealing with issues online only and fail to came and discuss issues that are affecting this organization. The existing schism shall never resolve itself, nor will we have a divine- given solution. All I am saying is that comrades need to came face to face and deal with issues. I am disturbed with 2 PAC’S. Some of us are so passionate and even fanatical about the PAC, some of us were on the verge of loosing their lives for the PAC I cant express how deeply disturbed I m about comrades playing politics and exchanges of derogatory insults in this organization, when we are dwindling from 1.2 %( 1994) to less than 1 %( 1999, 2004,2009) on electoral cake. Comrades is it your intention that you work as agents provocateurs to destabilize the organization that was rooted with the blood of our forefathers? I thus request that comrades everywhere, that is, anyone calling himself herself africanist must stand up and give up endless rhetoric. We have a gigantic task, let build the PAC. Mduduzi Sibeko [email protected] 011-724-9249 071-101-2595 The information contained in this message and or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. 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